The History of the Manitoba Darrs Association Inc

Manitoba became the fourth province to join the National Darts Federation of Canada in 1978. The man behind Manitoba’s involvement was Ed Gray who was granted a Lifetime Membership to the N.D.F.C. Ed held the position of Recording Secretary on the N.D.F.C. Executive, a position that was eventually eliminated in 1982 to make way For the establishment of a Youth Director and eventually allowed the involvement of our young players in the sport of darts.

One Sunday afternoon in June 1978, twelve dart players congregated with the idea of forming an associatio, which would become affiliated with the National Darts Federation of Canada. The name given to this organization was “Manitoba Darts Association”. The twelve people in attendance at this meeting became the official Board of Directors.

With no money available, many raffles were held in conjunction with qualifying events to determine which players would go to Toronto to represent Manitoba in the National Championship. At that time The provincial play-offs were held in various venues throughout the city, players would travel between events Because there was no money to rent one venue big enough for the event. At this National Championship Manitoba didn’t do much on the dart board but they did cause quite a stir. At this time provincial qualifying events were “open” events with men and women competing against each other and not separated into separate sections for men and women. At one Manitoba qualifying event Doris Atherton (who later moved to BC and passed away in December 1996) managed to secure herself a spot to go to the championship as the ONLY FEMALE in attendance and the N.D.F.C. wasn't quite sure what to do with her.

By 1979 Manitoba had four zones and a total of 422 members. This year the qualifying events were also “open” but Manitoba had plans underway to form a ladies division of the Manitoba Darts Association. Although the ladies could go no further than the provincial level, a provincial championship was held, and for most this was the first tournament of this magnitude and was a bit overwhelming to all involved. Manitoba made itself known at the National level. Jack Hamilton won the silver medal losing out to Bob Sinnaeve from Ontario and got the opportunity to travel to London, England to participate in the World Masters.

in 1980 Manitoba became the first Province outside of Ontario to host a National Championship, and the Ladies had an opportunity to play at the “national level” Representatives from all provinces took part in the first Ladies Board meeting, which was very productiv. The same cannot be said for the Men’s meeting which was postponed because many of the participants were inebriated. Thereafter, alcohol was banned from Annual General Meetings. A few ladies who attended this meeting are Lee Richardson ( NS ), Amy Earle (NFL), Jo Stoyles ( NS ), and Kip Morris’s (Mb).

Darts was finally recognized as a sport in Manitoba in 1982 and the organization became known as The Manitoba Darts Association Inc. The men’s and Ladies executive were united and Manitoba membership soared to 552 members. Arnold Park won Men’s Singles at the National Championship held in St John’s Newfoundland and went to England to play in the World Masters.

In 1987 once again the National Championship was help in Manitoba as well as the #7 Darts Classic held at the Winnipeg Canoe Club- again the first time for The event to be held outside Ontario.

Unfortunately in early 1988 Manitoba lost a very valued member of the association, Lou Rea who had been involved with the MDAI in some capacity or another since the beginnin, and at the time of her passing she was the Manitoba Provincial Director. To honour her and NDFC sanctioned tournament named the “Lou Rea Memorial Darts Classic’ was held in Winnipeg each October.

The 1990’s were shaky and the membership dropped drastically for reasons the were not determine. Thanks to the hard work of the dedicated volintegers Manitoba still believes they are one of the best organized associations within the NDFC.